View From the House – Winter
It has been a quite a year – my first full year as Tamworth’s Member of Parliament. During the last twelve months I have met a great many people from a range of organisations around the town as well as many constituents. Highlights of 2011 for me include visiting our local schools and seeing the new Landau Forte Academy in Amington rise from a building site to a state-of-the-art school; meeting hi-tec Tamworth businesses such as Alcon and GlobalEyes; touring our fantastic nature reserves with the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and joining in the welcome of our brave local soldiers at the 3 Mercian Home Coming parade in November.
There is no doubt it has been a tough year for our economy, locally as well as nationally. I think nearly everyone accepts that the debt crisis built up over the last decade has to be tackled and that borrowing our way out of debt is not a credible approach. Nor is continuing the “something for nothing” society where it pays not to work. But the continuing problems in the Eurozone have made the road to recovery doubly difficult. In the coming year I will work with the government to ensure our local businesses are taxed and regulated as little as possible so they have the time and the resources to do what they do best – create jobs and wealth. Here in Tamworth there are some positive signs – John Lewis has created hundreds of extra work opportunities whilst up the road at Wolverhampton and down the road at Hams Hall, Jaguar Land Rover and BMW have invested in new technology which will bring new jobs. Rebalancing the economy and sorting out our debt are crucial to getting the country back onto its feet over the next few years.
At Westminster there have also been some striking moments. David Cameron’s statement on the tabloid hacking scandal set a record for the number of questions asked and answered by a Prime Minister. His veto of a new EU Treaty earlier this month also saw an electric performance in the House of Commons where he was applauded (and criticised by some) for standing up for our interests. One of the best speeches I heard was from Labour’s Frank Field speaking about immigration. He was thoughtful, measured and set exactly the right tone about the need to protect our borders and clamp down on unrestricted immigration. I believe the government is taking the right steps to meet this challenge by putting limits on migrants and insisting on language requirements as well as by talking about the issue in a calm and sensible way.
Here in Tamworth one of the biggest issues people raise with me is the Child Support Agency. Any organisation that deals with the welfare of children is important and clearly there are still worries with the CSA which need to be addressed, so earlier in the autumn I met with its Head of Policy to outline my concerns. And I am meeting the West Midlands manager in the new year. If local residents have CSA issues of their own I encourage them to contact me.
Finally I must mention Tamworth Police, led by Chief Inspector Coxhead, and their excellent initiative “Project Turnaround” which brings together an array of agencies and local organisations to identify potential problem youngsters and stop them from going off the rails. Project Turnaround has won recognition across the County and beyond. It is now being used around Staffordshire whilst the Home Secretary, Theresa May, paid her tribute to the team in the House of Commons. I am keen to see its success in helping young people continue.
2012 is now almost here. It promises to be an exciting year locally starting with The Lambs match against Everton on 7th January (we all want them to come home being called “giant killers” by Match Of The Day) followed by the arrival of the Olympic Torch in June. I hope the year brings happiness and opportunity for everyone in our community. Meanwhile, I wish all Herald staff and readers a very happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.
